ULTIMATE LIFE PROBLEM (Q4.2)

The Problem The Q Was Uniquely Born To Solve

A Problem is a dilemma that can and must be remedied

If the dilemma cannot be remedied than it is not a Problem, it is a Condition to which the person or Group must learn to adapt. Likewise, if the dilemma (however vexing) is not something that must be remedied for full Effectiveness, than it is also not a Problem—it is a Deck Chair rather than an Iceberg , something that might be improved upon but only after all the Problems have been solved.

The Q doesn’t spend resources on Conditions and Deck Chairs because his focus is on solving Problems, the dilemmas that can and must be remedied.

The Q’s Legacy is the direct result of the Solutions that, through his Leadership, successfully remedy the Problems that afflicted his Groups before he got to work.

While a Solution may be the result of a Q’s sole Vision, its successful implementation will not be. That requires the collective efforts of the Organizations the Q builds and the Teams he develops.

The larger the Problem is, the more difficult the Solution will be and the more people it will take effectuate it. Leaders who Influence the most people to join them in solving the largest Problems leave behind the biggest Legacy.

o Solution/win the Cold War
o Influence/the entire First World
o Legacy/Ronald Reagan tore down the Iron Curtain and freed Eastern Europe from communism

Every man has his own ULP

It is critical to note that it is not just a Problem that a Virtuous Leaders devotes himself to remedying, it is their Problem that they hurl their lives against—THE Problem that they were uniquely born to solve. F3 calls this the Ultimate Life Problem (the ULP) , and every person has one.

Identifying one’s ULP is not difficult. Some people have it thrust upon them, as Roosevelt did with Pearl Harbor. With others, the emergence of their ULP may be more subtle but no less compelling. It is simply the overarching dilemma that nags at them their entire lives. Identifying it really just means ceasing the exhausting effort required to ignore it.

My ULP is dormant Male Community Leadership. It has bugged me since I was a boy, although I didn’t stop trying to ignore it until I was forty-three years old. It was at that point that the hard work began and whatever Legacy I am to have began to take shape.